Saturday, November 2, 2024

creative time this week embroidery finished, quilting and painting

8" X 10" 
Here we are again, a round-up of some of my art work for the week. I am a creative sort, and love to write, paint, draw, quilt, embroider and bead.
I also love to crochet and found a project that uses up little bits of leftover yarn so I hope to explore that next week.
I got out beads, sequins and actual rocks with holed drilled in them, and embellished this flower. Bugle beads that are copper iridescent went around the center and stem, gutterman flower sequins were added with seed beads. I used seed beads to form little flowers above the ones on the left, added seed beads along the imaginary growing weed at the top. 


I enjoyed every bit of this tiny piece from the applique, to hand stitching, french knots, beads and rocks at the bottom.  I chose to sew the backing on around three sides leaving the bottom open. turned it put in two layers of stiff peltex then turned the bottom edges in and did a ladder stitch to close the opening
since it's not over til you're done... and I thought I might want a bit more... some embroidery floss grass over the join at the bottom, tall and short stitches, some with a flower sequin on it would really finish it in style! For now it's sitting on the easel in the front hall.

It was started on a whim, to just sew something. 

I started the RSC block for November, the EPP circle, in my color choice of the month. Gold. 
The RSC leader Angela left the last months of the year our choice to finish our projects. I wanted 12 blocks so my quilt wouldn't be square so this month for me is gold. For the golden leaves I see right now! But I didn't realize gold would be kind of hard with fabric. 


Is is gold? yellow? orange? tan? I did okay making the coffin shape choices but the hexies that go around is hard so I pulled some choices with the theme of dots. All my blocks have dots on the outside hexies... 



How would I mix gold on the palette of paint? yellow + brown+ orange? Now that I have some, I'd use the quinacridome gold from Danielle smith! 
speaking of paintings

Nina Rycroft shared a 4 lesson watercolor workshop for free online. I learned things like making wet on wet free form flowers

making characters, and other wonderful things. This is my version of alice and I like her face so much with so little pencil before, mostly shading
I love how the pink flowers look, just take a brush with pink, smear it onto the wet paper. 
I lost control of the paint over the cat's mouth, so had to fill in with some ink, don't love that in these pics but in real life it's cool and DH commented on how 3-d the cat looks in person. 
did I mean to do that he asked? 

a few sketchbook pages from last month: 





gesture drawing where you don't lift your pen for the sketch
linking to

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Thursday, October 31, 2024

I Like Thursday #424 candy, hats, books, art and a poodle!

 

welcome to this week's list of likes. Starting with nature's display of color with people's displays of halloween decorations. I am stunned by the golden color I see on walks, when the sun glints through orange leaves, when the soft drop of leaves floating on breezes, the look of confetti the sidewalks take on. 

The temps finally cooled a bit, the flurries never appeared and the rain accumulated to about 10 drops but I love brisk weather. 

We only put up one outdoor decoration this year, and they were a challenge to put together

House wearing a hat! lol


Milo wondering what all the fuss is about?

they are a fairly good length of lights to go around the porch and look so festive! And colorful, I almost forgot how difficult it was to thread the lightstring through each hat and figuring out how to hang them on the porch roof. 

I got a piece of swiss cheese and some spelt bread for breakfast this week, and noticed it turned into a ghost.... I didn't plan it, just looked down and laughed

reading on audio

 

 I am loving this book, it goes between a modern writer, and her ancestor who might have written plays that published under the name of Shakespeare. It's beautifully read, beautiful writing, great story line showcasing women's lives. 

Sewing

I finished a challenge quilt ( put a cat on it) by printing my painting onto fabric for this year's halloween quilt

and since I love beads and sequins I added them to my handwork piece, and now it's ready to frame somehow, details on Saturday's creativity post. A sneak peek of one corner:
bugle beads around the flower center, flower sequins, seed beads in places
all hand embroidered and has been fun to experiment with

Paint

Watching paint dry on sketchbook page: a lesson in making lettering stand out by painting around it

lots more paintings on Saturday's post but I did finish my Alice in Wonderland painting and love it!

prompt:

 what is your favorite Halloween treat?  do you give out candy to kids and what kind? have you ever run out? 

I love 100 grand bars. As a kid I wanted sugar babies or a big sugar daddy bar.  We don't give out candy now but back in MD we would dress in costume, sit outside to give out candy to kids, and wine to parents. 

People would drive big flatbed trucks full of kids into our hood, and we did run out of candy. The kids were picky too, or wanted handfuls. Once my friend's older son was out with little kids, and when I told him I ran out, he replied, hold on. Pulled out his bag, chose about 10 treats, and dumped the rest into my bowl to give out!!!!! 

I thought that was so like him, a generous kind and engaging boy who no doubt grew up to be a wonderful man.

Red White and blue   America has always been great!

I like voting! 

I remember looking forward to it as a teen. I was grateful when I learned women fought hard for the right to have a say in their govt. I took it seriously. In high school we often discussed the issues and had mock elections. 

We learned to think about issues and to be gracious in defeat because majority rules. 

The fact is, one party in the USA  is doing all it can to make voting difficult.

The GOP has a plan which includes removing a lot of rights from women. Go read project 2025 or the latest name for it to confuse citizens from knowing what they plan. 

I voted by mail now that I'm physically challenged. It's a God-send the way Colorado does it. I am notified  my ballot was sent so I can check for it. I fill it out, date it, sign it and mail it back. The state lets me know when it's received. Then when it's checked for correct signature and counted I'm notified again that my vote was counted. 

This sticker was sent out in the email...

I voted to keep our constitution and law and order. (one candidate said he will destroy the constitution and remove the need to vote). I voted to keep the rights that our constitution gives us. I believe Americans should respect each other and our country. I love diversity, knowing we all have something to contribute to better all of us.

 I voted  for a president not a dictator. 

The founding fathers tried to protect us from future dictators taking over. I am grateful.

Milo's Moment

hiya, Milo here. I just got the monthly grooming and Mama thought I needed a quilt to warm up. 
Don't have a lot to say this time, but I'll tell you how to get a mama's attention when she's typing. 
Put your cold nose under her arm, then press your entire body against her leg hard as you can and make her pet you. 
Easy peasy! then ask to go  out back to show off your haircut! 
now please visit these folks to see what they liked this week! Tell me if you give out candy or have run out before! 


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Saturday, October 26, 2024

creativity this week watching paint dry, then printing in on fabric to quilt, and book binding

 

I finished the gray rainbow scrap block for this week, and here it is with a few others. I now have 10 big blocks....

I have learned by doing these, that choosing to do one big block a month in one colorway, gives a big impact. In the beginning I might have mixed all the colors in each block thinking that might look scrappy. This way you see the color, then the patterns from different fabrics making it scrappy. 
I also love the tula pink background fabric with these... 
Happy Colors!

tell her to make another run of this fabric! 

I did sew tiny gray scraps together to test the machine, worked fine, but what do make this into? 


I am relearning how to use my little mechanical Janome Gem, and needed to put on a walking foot 
(to the non sewists reading, that keeps three layers together while it's being stitched) to make this Halloween quilt
11" and change by 11" -ish

I painted the branch moon and cat on paper a few weeks ago... and Joy's table scraps challenge was to include a cat and light fabrics. I printed this and another of my paintings onto a sheet of fabric in my home printer. (Jacquard printing fabric available at amazon and JoAnn's) I painted this as a full size painting and it printed very well on fabric
this was left to use in another quilt art piece later
so I had my printed art, chose these to be background, and backing, using peltex stabilizer instead of  batting...

I turned under the edges of my printed fabric, stitched over it with two sparkly embellishment threads (blue and purple) with a zigzag stitch, fused on a cutie witch  from a scrap, holding a cat too
since I'm using this basic machine, I didn't push my luck beyond using metallic thread to quilt it, so it's not heavily quilted. I like the look though, and finished the outside edge with a machine stitched binding in the same background fabric
and it's sitting on our entry table's easel now. Done in 2 hours or so 
One of the last sketchbook lessons I took before it was done, was how to make a watercolor sketchbook binding it in a way to make all the pages open flat

I have just the scene to paint over the two pages... a landscape in our 'hood. I took a pic today to use
I made the covers from a red manila folder cut to size. It's pretty but I thought it would look good with one of my paintings... I tested my two pics for size, printing them on paper before the fabric... and now I have those to use too!
some double stick tape should seal it enough

I've got a number of sketchbook pages to share with you so I'll show you a couple now, and more next week, I was very happy with my lessons in sketchbook this time, and what I learned, 

this exercise was to use tissue paper, paint it before or after, compose a a page with it. I saw mine as balloons. Each teacher shares her favorite supplies, and her tips overall when making art. 
Hers looked much better but, I now know more about the qualities of glueing tissue, and how it accepts and changes paint, how markers behave over it all 
this artist taught us to free ourselves up for making art, pour out all your colored pencils, grab one without looking and color in a triangle. Then grab another without looking or choosing a color, and do another triangle next to the first. Continue til you're out of colors. (I have a set of 24) 

then look at it, see if there are surprising combinations, colors you might never have put next to each other for instance, Choose one area of 6 colors you like together, and do the exercise again with just them... then she used just those colors do do a sketchbook page of little motifs to see how they might look. 
Mine looked like a 4 year old made it so I'm not including it today! 
There are others I truly love I'll show next week.... 
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Thursday, October 24, 2024

I Like Thursday # 423 fences, clouds, scary things, and a poodle


 welcome to this week's list of likes... very short because I have to write this before I go for PT, it hurts to sit at the computer for more than a few minutes. I like my provider but hurt more for 4 days after. 

So... I'm doing a quick post working ahead. 

I like picket fence look in our neighborhood. They are plastic, all the same, and flimsy but I love the look of them. 

We had a few days of cooler weather and the cloud show was wonderful... In person it's inspirational for painting

I like my small stand by machine, without bells or whistles, that is a mechanical sewing machine with a fine straight stitch. Every seam takes longer as the inner area is small and it's an awkward space under the needle but... I do like it and like using it. I love that this week I packed up my beloved Bernina, and figured out a way to fit this baby into the space so I could make my block for the month. More on Saturday I hope. 

I'm going to be doing an Alice in Wonderland painting, from a workshop that's now over. I learned a bit about developing characters, how to paint wild oversized flowers, how to trace elements of a face, then develop it as a unique character. The ones above were just an exercise to get your mind working. 

Another lesson in the painting workshop
just in my sketchbook... she led us through using different mediums to make simple fun circles. I added the different fonts, and always do a small portrait of the teacher too



The prompt this week is:
do you enjoy going in a "haunted house?"  or scary movies? 

It's soon Halloween in America, so my prompts were related to that... I do not like haunted houses, I don't like the gruesome element of Halloween, or to be scared. Life is scary enough for me!! I've gone in a couple haunted houses, and actually stayed in a for real haunted B & B once. Our room lights kept coming on, the owner said, she forgot to tell us they've seen a ghost there many times. 
what about you? 

Milo's moment


Hiya... nothing new around here and Mama is in a tizzy to finish. I like my walks and good treats, I like cold weather but it's not happening here again. I do not like scary things like... 

blowing plastic bags outside, scary halloween decorations, dogs that run at me barking, getting my ears cleaned, fireworks, or the dragon in our house (the vacuum) I go find Mama when the dragon comes out, since Dad pushes it around. 

I do have slightly more respect for him because he can control it. 

now please visit these nice peeps to see what they think this week about scary things

 http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com/

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/  

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/

 
taking a break:


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Saturday, October 19, 2024

creativity this week feathered star block and lessons with paint



welcome to this week's creativity round-up! Mostly I've been learning, drawing, painting with some sewing as well! On with the show.... I'll start with painting, go on to sewing so you can find what you like best here. 
I took a lesson in how to use my gouache paints. They are quite a different creature from watercolors. 

It's good to learn new things. They are opaque, and because of that, thicker than my usual watercolors. They are water soluble though and can be mixed on the palette before using, and cleaned with water.  
My brushes were too soft and held more of the intense paint than needed. I had to figure out how to dilute them enough to use without losing the opacity. 

The presenter, Kate Cooke led us through combining inspirational elements from different sources into one picture. I have a lot of skipped paper and a lack of straight lines as my paint was too thick to cover with my brushes but I love the overall painting
I like the style reminiscent of the 1920's . I like that if I'm careful to be fast I can paint over with new motifs and it is not see through. I like that when I didn't like my shade of sky, I could brush on a darker shade, then a watery white pushed over created clouds. 
I didn't like the lack of coverage along straight lines, and will need to figure out how to get that. I see more gouache lessons in my future, and more experiments. I did try it several times this week. 

c coThis class by Effie Wilde was fun but I used watercolor instead of acrylic (gives me headaches) the acrylivers dried acrylic so you can cover up, add to, etc that is hard to do with watercolors other than a glaze. I like her colors and modern look. 

I tried a new to me method of book binding, cartoons, and took a course from another free online workshop (Nina Rycroft) on four ways to combine into one painting. More next week on that.


My poor overworked Bernina was packed up for now, I found my tiny Janome Gem to use in a pinch. I forget how BASIC it is. I have to turn the hand wheel each time I stop and start, and go to the manual for things like winding a bobbin, inserting it, changing needles, etc. I'm glad to have it as I get antsy when I don't sew. 
This week I did my RSC block in GRAY. Her colorway is "light" and there is light gray... it's not finished as wedging that big paper pattern under the needle on this machine is challenging taking much longer to piece. 
Here are the four sections with the color  pieced, next is to add in the pretty tula pink fabric around each section, then join the sections. Hope I get it done for next week! 

printed pattern section, do four


a close up of some of the gray scraps I have

Gray isn't my favorite color, I find it cold unless you combine it with black but this is a challenge right? To use our scraps? 

I'll share more about the paintings I've done, and the book binding next time. 
for now, enjoy these short tutorials anyone can do

 amazing drops of paint make a painting!

https://youtube.com/shorts/kv0-Q9dugMw?si=Nx0UCvHLBkkqkpNh

Well I've never seen this painting technique using dots of paint and a hypodermic needle

https://youtube.com/shorts/9VlizSQsQp4?si=BqNKr65mJX0rg35C

 linking to


design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/

https://myblog-lunchbreak.blogspot.com/

modern, simple painting anyone can do

https://youtube.com/shorts/CMeOu3cYMKQ?si=nEQSK7R01iaTz06R  

 

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